Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / John

John 7:53-8:11 09/11/05

Message: ‘A Stones Throw from Death’                                          Text: John 8:1-11
 

Introduction: Have you ever been caught red handed. You were guilty and everyone knew it? Like cruising down the Parkway and a statie gets behind you and puts on his lights. Isn’t that a wonderful feeling? And you have nothing to say because you know you were going way too fast. You may make excuses, but you know you were speeding…and so does everyone else who now passes you by while you are pulled over.

The woman in our text this morning knows how you feel. (Well not you, because no one here ever goes over the speed limit) She was caught in the act of adultery. She was guilty and she knew it. And so did everyone else because the men who caught her in the act exposed her sin to everyone, publicly.

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 7:53 (pg. 817 in the church Bibles under the chairs in front of you) Where we will find a woman a stones throw from death.

1. John 7:53-8:6    Sin Exposed
Read: John 7:53-8:2

The Feast of the Tabernacles was over. Jesus went to the Mt. of Olives, perhaps he camped out there with his disciples, perhaps he went there to pray, we’re not told.  The next day Jesus goes back to the Temple courts to teach. Notice two things here.
•    First, Jesus was persistent and passionate about his teaching…something we can all learn from, especially those who teach here at CBC.
•    Second, the people were persistent and passionate about being taught. Something we all can learn from as well, especially if you think Sunday morning is enough
     teaching for you for the week.

Read: John 8:3-6

The text is brief and to the point, but it doesn’t tell what really was happening. Let me try and expand it a bit.

•    Jesus returns to teaching in the temple and a crowd gathers to hear him.
•    Suddenly there is a commotion. Heads turn as a group of men rudely push their way through the crowd.
•    They are dragging a woman who’s screaming and crying at the same time. She’s dirty and bloody from being dragged by these men through the streets.
      And she’s humiliated by her appearance. You see if she was in fact caught in the act of adultery, she was probably naked or nearly so..and everyone saw her. 
•    The religious leaders force the woman to stand in front of Jesus and the crowd, as they expose her nakedness and sin to everyone. ‘We caught this woman in the
      very act of adultery.’
•    The woman knew she was guilty. So did everyone else.
•    The religious leaders declare that the penalty according to the Law of Moses is death by stoning.
•    They ask Jesus what should be done to her.
•    Jesus bent down and wrote in the sand.

Let’s look behind the scenes a bit.

The Law states that there must be two witnesses to make a charge of adultery. They said she was caught in the act. This is unlikely unless they were waiting for her, unless they set her up.

The Law also states that the man must be judged as well. But he wasn’t brought along. Perhaps he was part of the set up and the  religious leaders let him go.

The Scribes and Pharisees brought this woman to Jesus to discredit his teaching.
   - If he let her go, he would be guilty of breaking the Law of Moses.
    -If he told them to stone her, his popularity with the people as a man of compassion would have been lost.

It was a lose, lose situation for Jesus. That’s what the Scribes and Pharisees were counting on. They didn’t care at all about the woman, what they wanted was to trap Jesus. But notice that Jesus is silent and he bends down to write in the sand. We don’t know what he wrote so it really is just conjecture to say anything about it…so I won’t.  Except to say that Jesus’ action, on the surface, looked like he didn’t want to acknowledge their request. But I believe there is more than that. Lets look again at the scene.
•    The religious leaders drug this woman thought the streets, she was dirty, bleeding, and probably naked. Understandably so, she would have felt humiliated
     because the religious leaders made her stand, naked, in front of Jesus and the crowd.
•    The last place this woman wanted to be was in the Temple. She knew she’s guilty, she had sinned. All she wanted to do is craw up in a corner and hide.

I believe Jesus’ bending down and writing in the sand accomplished something very gracious.
•    First, by bending down and writing in the sand, Jesus avoided having to look at the woman’s nakedness.
•    Second, by bending down and writing in the sand, he attracts attention to himself and away from the woman as everyone tried to see what Jesus was doing.

When you know you are guilty and when you are humiliated…
•    What you don’t need is someone to come to you and say ‘you know you sinned don’t you, you know it was wrong don’t you?’
•    What you don’t need is justice, confrontation or to be made to feel guilty or convicted.
•    What you need is mercy, grace and compassion.

And by Jesus actions, that’s exactly what this woman received. Even though she was guilty of a great sin, Jesus didn’t throw it in her face and add to her shame and humiliation. He cared how she felt.

Transition: But the Religious leaders didn’t and they press Jesus for an answer.

2. John 8:7-9        Sin Judged
Read: John 8:7-9

Jesus stood up to face the Scribes and Pharisees. I believe he would have placed himself directly between the woman and her accusers. His response to them has two implications.
•    First, only one who is without sin can judge this woman. This means without sin in this matter. If this was a set up, as it is believed, then none of the Scribes and
      Pharisees would have been innocent since they set her up.
•    Second, only Jesus could judge her because he is sinless.

Jesus again distracts attention from the naked woman and to cause the religious leaders to rethink their accusations, he bends down and writes in the sand. Again we don’t know what he wrote so I won’t speculate. One by one the religious leaders leave, perhaps because they know their own guilt in this matter. With the accusers gone, the case against this woman would have been legally dropped.

I want you to note that Jesus is not soft on sin. He doesn’t brush her sin under the carpet. In fact, he admits her guilt when he tells the religious leaders that they can execute the sentence…if they are without sin.

Transition: Up to this point, even though Jesus hasn’t addressed the woman, he has spoken to her heart in the gracious way he has treated her.

3. John 8:10-11    Sin Forgiven
Read: John 8:10-11

Jesus doesn’t ask her about her sin. They both know she is guilty. Instead, Jesus gives her hope for a better life. By saying he does not condemn her, he is saying he has forgiven her. You see, the religious leaders were more interested in destroying Jesus than saving her. Jesus is always more interested in forgiving and saving than condemning.

Notice Jesus tells her ‘Go and sin no more.’ Jesus never tells us to do something we can’t do. I don’t mean to say that she will never sin again, but that now she knows Jesus and she has the choice. I believe her heart turned to faith in Jesus, even thought the text doesn’t say it. By Jesus’ gracious actions and compassionate words, she will leave the Temple differently than when she entered it.

Conclusion

Jesus continues to pass on a message to us today.
     -It is not written in the sand with his hand, but on the cross with his blood.
     -And the message is ‘Not Guilty’

When we ask Jesus to forgive us and we believe he can and will, we receive the ‘Not Guilty’ verdict and we are encouraged by our gracious Savior to ‘Go and sin no more’.

One last point of application. Ushers please come forward. (Have ushers hand out stones)

I want you to note the horrible way the Scribes and Pharisees treated the woman caught in sin. These were very religious people. They did this in the name of righteousness…of right living, of being godly and responsible.

•    There will be those who come to you pointing fingers of guilt. You know you have sinned and so do they and they will let you and often others know it too.
     Unfortunately most of these finger pointers will come from within the church.
•    But they will often come to you with a heart full of their own sin that blinds them to the truth they are so eager to defend.
•    They will claim to be acting in Jesus’ name but will not be  acting in his manner of mercy, grace and compassion.

This is perhaps one of the greatest faults of the Christian church today. Yet, it need not be. Jesus treated the woman in sin with mercy, grace and compassion and we can do the same when the sin of others is made known to us.

That’s what the stone is for. Carry it with you. It is small enough to fit into your pocket.

•    When you are tempted to judge someone (give examples of judgment) take out the stone and remember Jesus’ response of mercy, grace and compassion to a
      guilty sinner.
•    Let the stone remind us to examine our own lives to see if there is any unconfessed sin we might be carrying around.
•    As Jesus stood between this guilty woman and her accusers, let the stone remind you to stand between the sin of another and executing judgment by being an
      example of mercy, grace and compassion.

Because without Jesus’ merciful, gracious and compassionate work on the cross bringing you forgiveness, you too would be a stones throw from death.